Capturing Thoughts Before They Perish

Category: Trips

Here I started my next phase of using nomad technology. I have been traveling for two days now in my soul search and experiencing next generation technology. I am traveling from Fort Mcmurray to Montreal through the US to enjoy the beauty of North America, reflect on my next 5 years of my life and, most importantly, experiencing the eNomad life: that is, living and working anywhere, anytime, anyone ice and just in time. I had some mishaps so far, but I am converging to something thrilling. At the moment, I have reached Kenton on the border between Sakskatchewan and Manitoba on my way to Grand Fork, North Dakota which I am planning to stay for one night to finish my Sat PhD assignment.

So, the technology I am using is my car GPS, my iPad and a Bell G4 pay as you go plan. I am facing some hiccups with connectivity on the road. But McDonalds always come to saving me because of their free WiFi. I still have to figure out what I must do when I get to US.

So, from now on, I should be able to blog my thoughts and feelings as I progress. Hope it works.

P.S. the picture above is taken at Yokoton McDonald. The place I downloaded BlogPress app and testing it with this post.

Google Docs users can now open, create, edit, save, and share popular file formats such as Microsoft Office and OpenOffice files as well as RTF, HTML, and text files through the Google Docs platform.

Dropbox gives users a powerful and easy way to store files online for sharing

Picnik a free online photo manipulation suite that gives you powerful image editing tools that were formerly available only though premium creativity applications such as Photoshop.

Basecamp project management has forever been transformed by the cloud-based Basecamp service that provides online collaboration and management tools for team members and managers that are accessible from any computer or smartphone

Evernote – This is a note taking application that works specifically with the cloud. Users save files on evernote, which can be accessed at any time by any internet using device.

Pixlr is an absolutely excellent free online photo editor. An interface called Pixlr Express is provided for image editing novices. With PhotoShop, the full Pixlr Editor offers a very powerful range of tools. These include layers, a history brush, and wide range of real-time filters.

Mint – A Cloud based personal finance tool to manage your money. Access all your balances and transactions together on the web or on your iPhone.

Cloudo – A free computer that lives on the Internet, right in your web browser. This means that you can access your documents, photos, music, movies and all other files no matter where you are, from any computer or mobile phone. Cloudo is a hosted service, there is no hardware or software to setup and maintain, and the DDE is fully accessible from any internet connected device.

ZumoDrive – A cloud-based file synchronization and storage service operated by Zecter, Inc. The service enables users to store and sync files online and between computers using their Hybrid Cloud storage solution.

Keep in Touch – Mailchimp is one of the easiest to use newsletter programs, with tracking tools that tell you who is opening your emails and what they are clicking on.

We always plan a “sunny” trip in December and March to run from the harsh snowy winter of Fort McMurray. Our December trip was supposed to be a beach relaxing trip in Cancun. While my son’s trip would be a real adventure touring Europe with a friend for6 months. Our trip turned out to be more adventure than we really expected!

First, Air Canada did its part. Our flight that was supposed to leave Fort Mac to Calgary at 5 got delayed till 9:45. We were told we should report to the airport at 9:30. When we did, they told us the flight already left. Waiting for the next available flight means missing the Cancun flight which is around 9 hours away. As a family, we decided to drive to Calgary. On Highway 63, otherwise known as Alberta Deadliest Highway It was 10 pm. The temperature was -25C. The 700 Km road we are supposed to cross are filled with snow. Only foolish people would do that. They were right… we have not encountered anyone else on the road. Not a single car! We decided to continue. My wife trying to contact our 24/7 tour agent with no avail. My son used his tech wits to see if we can book flights from Edmonton to Calgary and save 300 km from the trip. Nothing materialized. We decided to enjoy the trip.

The first obstacle was I got a sever stomach aches. No stops on the way for the first 300 Km. I had to supress it. We couldn’t find any open petrol station around the airport to fill gas. We had to go back to town and fill it in Fort Mac. With a cup of coffee, my son iPad and his entertaining company. I enjoyed the best trip I ever had with him… although I had to drive at a speed of 30km/hr for more than 50Km because of the heavy fog. My wife slept in the back seat, and my son on my side. He was great copilot! Without him, I would not be able to make it. He was a great DJ. Putting the right songs through his iPod to the car stereo. And opening interesting topics to keep me awake. He offered to drive and I was hoping to switch with him once we reached Edmonton. But his eyes dozed off on Hendey Avenue. I did not wanted to wake him up, although I was a bit too tired!

Later I discovered that what we have done is rarely done by anyone else… ever! We twitted and facebooked our progress through my BB to ensure that our friends are tracking our trip. Fida and Amen in Calgary were keeping an eye on our progress. Our family were on the stand by if they needed to interfere… but everything went well.

I switched driving the car with my Wife at Red Deer (200 km away from destination) around 5 am. I slept in the back seat for the last 2 hours of the trip. We got to the airport 2 hours before our Cancun flight. We checked my son in the airport hotel (for his flight to London was in the afternoon) and we rushed to the airport becuase we were worried that if we slept for few minutes, we will never wake up to catch our flight.

I slept 3 hours on the plane to Cancun. Total sleeping time in the last 32 hours were 5 hours only!

The start of a planned relaxing trip turned out to be an unplanned adventure We did not recognize the adventure until we shared it with our friends and we were desribed as fools and crazy and that no one would do such a trip at night in December!…

The last leg of our trip was even more adventure than expected. But this is another blog!